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Politics : American Presidential Politics and foreign affairs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: DuckTapeSunroof who wrote (33506)	3/2/2009 6:17:04 PM
From: longnshort	2 Recommendations Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 71588

Steele is not a conservative and Rush is not a republican, so what is your point ?

To: DuckTapeSunroof who wrote (33506)	3/2/2009 6:24:53 PM
From: longnshort	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 71588

Tax Problems Surface for Trade Rep. Nominee Kirk By Michael D. Shear Posted at 4:25 PM ET on Mar 2, 2009 \| Category: Cabinet voices.washingtonpost.com Former Dallas mayor Ron Kirk, who is President Obama's nominee to be the U.S. Trade Representative, failed to pay almost $10,000 in taxes during the past three years because of a series of mistakes, the Senate Finance Committee announced today. Kirk's errors involved honoraria from speeches, on which he should have paid taxes; the cost of sports games, for which he deducted too much; and improper treatment of accounting fees on his income taxes. Kirk has agreed to file amended returns. The news about Kirk's mistakes comes as tax-related issues have become a topic of great sensitivity for the administration, following incidents with several high-profiled appointees whose nominations were threatened or derailed because of tax mistakes. Former senator Tom Daschle was forced to abandon his bid to be secretary of health and human services after revelations that he had failed to pay taxes on the use of a chauffeur. Obama's choice to be the country's chief performance officer, Nancy Killefer, withdrew because of a failure to pay a small amount of employment taxes. And Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner was confirmed after acknowledging that he had paid more than $40,000 in back employment taxes and interest only after being chosen to lead the department. Obama picked Kirk on Dec. 19, the final Cabinet choice before Inauguration Day. The former mayor's nomination has languished since then for unknown reasons even as other Cabinet nominees were confirmed. Kirk, who would become the fourth African American in the Obama Cabinet, served six years as Dallas mayor before launching a losing bid for the U.S. Senate against Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Tex.). Kirk did not respond to several requests for comment left on his phone and by e-mail. The Finance Committee released its findings about Kirk's taxes after a meeting of its members today. "It is the responsibility of the Finance Committee to conduct a thorough vetting of all nominees whose confirmations fall under our jurisdiction," the committee said in a statement. "The Committee produced this report and conducted a briefing for the staff of Committee members today to ensure the appropriate level of transparency and to ensure senators are fully informed and are able to assess the relevant information before the panel considers Mr. Kirk's nomination next Monday." But the Democratic chairman of the committee, Sen. Max Baucus (Mont.), released his own statement affirming his support for Kirk. "Mayor Kirk is the right person for this job and I will work to move his nomination quickly," Baucus said. "I am confident he can successfully restore the confidence of Congress and the American people in a balanced international trade agenda." Baucus's Republican counterpart, Sen. Charles Grassley, will "reserve judgment" until a hearing is completed, said to his spokeswoman, Jill Gerber. The committee plans to hold a hearing on Kirk's nomination next Monday. Kirk's tax problems, according to the committee, were largely based on his failure to pay taxes on honoraria that he earned from speaking. He had not paid taxes on the income because he had asked that the fees be diverted to his alma mater, Austin College, to fulfill a pledge to a scholarship fund. The committee said he also deducted too much from his taxes from the purchase of season tickets to NBA Mavericks games. And it said he incorrectly apportioned accounting fees between his partnership forms and his personal income tax forms. Kirk also overstated the value of a television he donated, valuing it at $3,000 instead of $1,500, the committee found. And he did not have an acknowledgment letter for a $900 donation.

To: DuckTapeSunroof who wrote (33506)	3/2/2009 6:33:13 PM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 71588

Limbaugh blasts Steele, the GOP POLITICO By: Jonathan Martin March 2, 2009 12:07 PM EST dyn.politico.com On the same night he was offering the keynote address to the Conservative Political Action Conference, Rush Limbaugh drew criticism from an unlikely source: Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele. In a little-noticed interview Saturday night, Steele dismissed Limbaugh as an “entertainer” whose show is “incendiary” and “ugly.” Steele’s criticism made him the highest-ranking Republican to pick a fight with the popular and polarizing conservative talk show host, and prompted a furious counter-assault by Limbaugh on his show Monday afternoon in which he told the locquacious RNC chair to pipe down and recognize that he's not a "talking head media star." But the new RNC chairman’s extraordinary comments won’t sit well with the millions of conservative listeners Limbaugh draws each week, and Steele aides scrambled to limit the damage Monday morning by trying to change the subject. “Rahm Emanuel and the Democrats know they lose an argument with the Republican Party on substance so they are building straw men to attack and distract,” said RNC spokesman Alex Conant. “The feud between radio host Rush Limbaugh and Rahm Emanuel makes great political theater, but it is a sideshow to the important work going on in Washington. RNC Chairman Michael Steele and elected Republicans are focused on fighting for reform and winning elections. The Democrats’ problem is that the American people are growing skeptical of the massive government spending being pushed by Congressional leaders like Nancy Pelosi.” Limbaugh, asked to respond, said he’d save his counter-attack for his listeners. “I’ll handle it on the radio,” he wrote in an e-mail. He did just that, lacing into Steele and saying the recently-elected party leader was “off to a shaky start.” "You know who needs a little leadership? Michael Steele and those at the RNC,” Limbaugh said, part of an unusual counter-attack against the elected head of the GOP. “I hope the RNC chairman will realize he’s not a talking head pundit, that he is supposed to be working on the grassroots and rebuilding it and maybe doing something about our open primary system and fixing it so that Democrats don’t nominate our candidates,” Limbaugh said, his voice rising. “It’s time, Mr. Steele, for you to go behind the scenes and start doing the work that you were elected to do instead of trying to be some talking head media star, which you’re having a tough time pulling off.” Steele, Limbaugh said, had “taken the bait” by the media. Limbaugh also offered a harsh assessment on the state of the GOP. "I'm not in charge of the Republican Party, and I don't want to be," he said. " I would be embarrassed to say that I'm in charge of the Republican Party in the sad-sack state that it's in. If I were chairman of the Republican Party, given the state that it's in, I would quit. I might get out the hari-kari knife because I would have presided over a failure that is embarrassing to the Republicans and conservatives who have supported it and invested in it all these years." In an interview on CNN with D.L. Hughley, Steele assured that he, not Limbaugh, was in charge of the party before saying that he wanted to put the right-wing talker “into context.” “Rush Limbaugh is an entertainer,” Steele said. “Rush Limbaugh, his whole thing is entertainment. Yes it’s incendiary, yes it’s ugly.” Steele’s comments, first noticed by NBC producer Chris Donovan, are sure to rankle Limbaugh in part because they validate the liberal critique of the conservative force: that he’s merely an “entertainer.” That’s one of the phrases often used by Democrats who seek to diminish Limbaugh. MSNBC’s liberal talk-show host Keith Olbermann, for example, frequently mocks his broadcast adversary as “comedian Rush Limbaugh.” Steele’s broadside comes as top-level Democrats are working to portray Limbaugh as the face of the GOP and daring anybody in the party to separate themselves from him. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs jumped on an opportunity to discuss Limbaugh Monday, saying at the press briefing that reporters should ask Republicans if they side with the talk show host. "Do they want to see the President's economic agenda fail?" asked Gibbs of the Republicans, citing the talker's comments earlier this year and over the weekend at CPAC about the Obama agenda. "You know, I bet there are a number of guests on television throughout the day and maybe into tomorrow who could let America know whether they agree with what Rush Limbaugh said this weekend. A liberal coalition has already aired two ads tying congressional Republicans to Limbaugh and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” Sunday that the conservative is the “the voice and the intellectual force and energy behind the Republican Party.” Emanuel also noted that Republicans face repercussions for criticizing Limbaugh. “When a Republican did attack him, he was — clearly had to turn around and come back and basically said that he's apologizing and was wrong,” Emanuel noted. He was referring to Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) who last month took a shot at Limbaugh to POLITICO only to appear on his program the next day and plead momentary “foot-in-mouth disease.” Conant, the RNC spokesman, didn’t say whether Steele would go on the show. Andy Barr contributed to this report. WATCH: Limbaugh addresses CPAC on Feb. 28: © 2009 Capitol News Company, LLC